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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 



BY 



RIDDELL 




PRESS OF 

WILLIAM R. JENKINS 

NEW YORK 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
TwoCoDies Received 

MAY 21 1906 

*, Copyriffht Entry . 
CLAssV*/x;^cf No, 



\QOb 



Copyright 1906, by R, R. Williams 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 



M 

^(Q. Invisible angels have riven 
f In eastern horizon afar 

^ The storm-clouds that sweep o'er the heaven, 
And kindled the Chaldean's star. 
The cuckoo-clock chirps in the twilight, 

The snow is beginning to fall, 
And the flames, as they flicker and fly, light 

The shadows that curtain the hall. 
Those flames, blue and gold, fleet as fancies. 

Twinkle in, twinkle out, to and fro. 
Recalling the childish romances 

First read by their light long ago. 
Fairy lands of the heart fill those embers, 

Concealed in the visible beam, 
Fairy forms that our sad soul remembers. 
That hallowed youth's holiest dream. 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 



The fire hath voices that mutter, 

With laughter, and love-tones, and tears, 
And echoes that tenderly utter 

Old tales of the long vanished years. 
And my dim, cosy corner invites me 

To muse on the sparkling play 
Of the red flame that lulls and delights me 

With visions ne'er dreamed of by day. 
'Tis late ; rest to-night, wheel and spindle, 

Repose in the hearth's cheerful glow, 
While I sit by the coals as they kindle. 

And list to the fast falling snow. 
For it taps on the window so eerie 

And whispers as seeking to lure 
The spirit oft tempted and weary, 

" Be thou pure, as my essence is pure." 
Ah, behold ! what a quaint little fairy 

Flits forth from the fierce flashing coal ! 
Captivating the watcher unwary, 

And charming the indolent soul. 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 



And he murmurs, "Away with the pensee, 

Away with the work of the day, 
And look on the pictures of fancy 

Revealed in this luminous ray. 
Without us the snow gleams and glances. 

The icicles cling to the eaves. 
And wierdly wind o'er the branches, 

lyike ghosts of the long fallen leaves. 
Without us the storm is amassing 

Deep drifts over valley and wold. 
While the sigh of the old year in passing 

Embitters the Christmastide cold. 
The storm-king rides forth on the mistral. 

Upbearing his banner of ice, 
Converting the world into crystal. 

Congealing the clouds in device, 
lyook thou on thy hearth, 'tis a temple ; 

Reflect on this flame, 'tis divine. 
Here worship the lordly and simple. 

And I am the priest of that shrine, 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 



I will show thee the homes I have haunted, 

The hearts I have blessed in my flight ; 
Come, follow to elf -land enchanted 

The fire-elf that wooes thee to-night." 
I smile to the spirit, assenting. 

My spirit is young, and would gaze 
On the scene of his fitful frequenting 

Flashed forth in the mystical blaze. 
And at once, at my gesture appealing. 

He signs with a magical wand. 
And the vivified flames change, revealing 

A vision from far fairy land. 

There's a cot on a mountain lonely 

That looms o'er the black abyss, 
The chamois that visit it only 

Recoil on a night like this. 
The pinnacles pierce highest heaven, 

The storm-clouds float frozen beneath ; 
The snow o'er each pathway is driven, 

Bewitching the wanderer to death. 



FIRESIDK FANCIES 



There is naught in the desolate dwelHng, 

The flake through the ruined roof falls, 
But the fire-light is flashing and filling 

With frescoes the bare, wooden walls. 
The dame and her dog doze together, 

Content, by the chimney place warm. 
But the maiden stands watching the weather, 

And prays 'mid the perilous storm. 
'Tis a maid of the mount as ethereal 

As the fee, seen in eventide mist, 
Whose ringlets the sun-god aerial 

With his coronal crowned while he kissed. 
A child, but the mind that hath nature 

As guide and companion alone 
O'er early wins spiritual stature. 

Is tuned to life's loftiest tone. 
Her fate is a short, simple story. 

Her soul is transparently fair. 
As the ice-crystals shaming the glory 

Of pearls in her glittering hair. 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 



Her bridal home shall be lowly, 

Her bridal bell harsh and rude, 
But her heart is a paradise holy, 

Where only the angels intrude. 
She watches to-night for her lover, 

Who mounts from the valley below, 
Who hath sworn, " I will always discover 

A path through the desert of snow. ' ' 
Oh, better be false to his true-love ! 

Oh, better forsworn of his troth ! 
Better dally the hours with a new love, 

Than accomplish his terrible oath. 
The wolf and the eagle grow wary, 

The mist veils the chasm, the height. 
' ' Sweet saints, let him evermore tarry 

Bre woo with a death-kiss to-night. ' ' 
Yet heap on the generous fuel. 

Illumine the mountain waste wide, 
I^et the fire like a heavenly jewel, 

lyove's load-star, the wanderer guide. 



FIRKSIDS FANCIES 



She looks o'er the precipice darkling, 

She piles up the fagots with fears, 
While the flames turn to diamond drops sparkling 

The flow of her innocent tears. 
She leans o'er the cliff, fair and fragile, 

The avalanche crashes below, 
And the ice-queen flits pale through her vigil, 

Foretelling of death in the snow. 
Black the hours of the night sweep above her, 

Enshrined in the light of the door, 
lyike some saint to whom pilgrims uncover. 

And pray in their penitent awe. 
That vision shines far o'er the shadow. 

The fire fills the valley beneath, 
He who mounts yon precipitous ladder 

Finds angel of life, not of death. 
Oh where is the hunter who dare not 

Climb into the clouds for such prize ? 
The Alps rocky citadels scare not 

From goddess enthroned in the skies. 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 



He recks not of deadly endeavor, 

Of snow-fiends with luring eyes, 
Of sleep that would lull him forever ; 

He mounts into paradise. 
"Watch, sweetheart ! Dark spirits assail me, 

The nether world wooes me away, 
lyct the fire on the bride's hearth ne'er fail me, 

Whate'er else bewitch and betray." 
As mighty as storm on the mountain, 

As true as the pole star above. 
As pure as the crystallized fountain, 

Is ever the mountaineer's love. 



The rugged rock deals him but slight scars. 
The eyes of the wolf lead the way. 

The ice-crystals glitter like white stars, 
And faith lights the dark as the day. 

Onward, upward, the shrine of the fire 
Burns e'er o'er the fortunate chase, 



FIRI^SIDK I^ANCIKS 



Every obstacle urges but higher, 

Until he receive her embrace. 
Hark ! Is it a voice, or some sad sprite, 

That wails from the chasm beneath ? 
Is yon shadow that flits through the mad night 

The ice-empress weaving her wreath ? 
A foot-fall ! ''St. Hubert defend him !" 

Her heart in v/orst tempest is tossed 
Than the elements. " Angels attend him ! 

I live not to weep o'er the lost." 
Oh, blessed St. Bernard, who cheereth 

The wanderer, work miracle now ! 
IvO, he lives? Nay, his spirit appeareth. 

He perished o'erwhelmed in the snow. 
A voice through the wild wind is calling, 

A face flashes fond at the door, 
A shade on the threshold is falling. 

Her hunter wins Eden once more. 
Is the glad recognition in heaven 

When loved ones long parted first meet, 



lO FIRKSIDE) FANCIES 

Or the vow at the marriage shrine given, 

So blessed, so rapturously sweet ? 
The wail of the tempest grows tender, 

And sinks to a bridal refrain. 
The moon breaks in magical splendor. 

Enchanting the ice-queen's domain. 
The bells in cold cavern halls tinkle, 

The gnomes bring their genis bright and pale. 
And the sentinel pine bends to sprinkle 

His snow o'er the bride as a veil. 
While the fire that the hunter befriended 

Rejoicing paints window and wall. 
Till the lowly cottage grows splendid. 

And shines like an emperor's hall, 
And his kiss's passionate impress 

Is dearer a thousand fold 
Than the crown of an Kastern empress 

Conferred on her ringlets of gold. 



FIRESIDE) FANCIES II 

The sleet sharply strikes on the windows, 

The wind follows fast in its chase, 
Drives outward the ashes and cinders 

And roars down the vast chimney place. 
The picture has faded before me, 

The flames quiver, blend, flare aloft. 
But the spirit whose spell still steals o'er me 

Allures in the glow warm and soft. 
What hear I ? The battle of nature, 

The hurricane chanting its dirge, 
The storm-god like animate creature 

Inciting the wrath of the surge. 
A starless and tempest swept heaven, 

The limitless waste of the wave, 
A ship to destruction death driven 

That miracle only may save. 
Flag and masts, spars and sails so long cherished 

Washed under, the last lamp burns dull 
As the last hope, when all else hath perished 

Within the fast perishing hull. 



12 FIRKSIDB FANCIES 

Above wail the winds, whirl the waters, 

Below rolls the fathomless sea, 
Where the songs of the ocean-king's daughters 

Unite in profane jubilee. 
No ship was e'er saved in such weather. 

The steersman abandons the helm, 
While the sailors collected together 

But watch till the last wave o'erwhelm. 
Hark the bells ! And the lamp dim and dimmer, 

But lo! How its last rays transform, 
And the seaman beholds in its glimmer 

The scene at his hearth, bright and warm. 
The house near the harbor how homely, 

Yet cheerful with frugal content. 
And the children he deemeth more comely 

Than any the Father e'er sent. 
He sees his return from seafaring, 

His good wife at work at her wheel. 
His gay little maidens preparing 

With ardor the mariner's meal. 



firksid:^ fanciks 13 

And there in the chimney seat cosy 

The boy roasting nuts in the fire, 
Whom he thinks too dainty and rosy 

To spring from such weather-worn sire. 
What dreams in the flames are entrancing 

The gaze of that beautiful boy! 
Fairy forests where dryads are dancing ? 

Where dragons and genii decoy? 
Through the combat of nature appalling 

The child's accents merrily come 
O'er the hurricane tenderly calling 

The agonized voyager home. 
* * I will sail amid frozen seas, father. 

And win a new realm for the world, 
Where the Arctic elves icy gems gather 

My ship's flag sl)all flutter unfurled. 
They have held each explorer enchanted 

Fore'er in their castles of ice, 
But my vessel shall anchor undaunted 

And capture the queens that entice. 



14 FIRKSIDK FANCIES 

I will sail like a later Columbus 

And win men the empires of snow." 
And the flames flash a glittering nimbus 

Crown-shaped o'er his infantine brow. 
And the Father's imploring petition 

Breaks loud while the elements rave, 
' * Gracious God, save my son from ambition, 

From fame, and a mariner's grave. 
God save those we love from our errors, 

God save those we love from our sin. 
Death is stripped of its deadliest terrors 

If our dear ones our lost haven win." 



Ah, that blast ! The trees reel as it rushes, 
The startled clock misses the hour, 

The terrified smoke backward gushes. 
The sparks fall in luminous shower. 

I wait till the storm's awful onset 
Hath swept o'er the neighboring hill, 



I^IRBSIDE^ FANCIERS 1 5 

While the flames take the colors of sunset 

That fade from a solitude still. 
The sprite in the fire forward stealeth, 

The snowflake falls softly again, 
And the picture before me revealeth 

The close of the Russian campaign. 
The laurels of Europe's valor 

Are twined in a funeral wreath, 
And the war-god with shuddering pallor 

Departs from that white waste of death. 
The muffled drum of the phalanx 

Still beats to its vanishing Mars, 
But the perishing flower of his gay ranks 

Freights with death his victorious cars. 



lyist the bugle! Why sleep ye forever. 
Brave legions that bridge the expanse 

From Moscow to Niemen's dark river? 
Only thus are ye faithless to France. 



1 6 FIRESIDE FANCIES 

No requiems the dead soldiers hallow 

Who rest on the snow covered plain, 
And the wolf and the Cossack fast follow 

The rider who spares spur and rein. 
Does one tremble ? The frost, not the foeman. 

The stiff hand relaxing the lance 
Still traces brave words to the woman 

Who waits for her warrior in France. 

What star lights retreat ? Moscow burning; 

The march home ? In blood 'tis designed. 
What host speeds Napoleon returning? 

The souls of the dead left behind — 
" Vive I'Kmpereur !" 'Tis the prayer of the 
dying. 

Whose camp-fire Napoleon's false star 
Sinks obscured by the sable flags flying 
O'er Azreal's crimson dyed car. 

What vision appears to the wounded, 
Magnificent Marshal who lies 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 1 7 

In his blood by cold comrades surrounded 

Beneath those superb northern skies ? 
The faithful war-horse beside him, 

Impatiently pawing the plain, 
Caresses the hand wont to guide him. 

And waits for his master — in vain ; 
The guns of the army disbanding 

Still threaten defiance afar 
Where Ney, the last legions commanding, 

Bears back the dead eagle of war. 



And aloft in the heavens eternal, 

The bright northern lights are aglow, 
Far flecking yon cloud lands supernal 

With jewels no Czar can bestow. 
And the Marshal, beholding that wonder 

Of nature, arousing, recalls 
As he lists to the cannon's last thunder. 

The scene in his forefathers' halls. 



1 8 FIRKSIDK FANCIES 



Fancy blends with the weird borealis, 

He sees not the ice-girdled plain, 
He dwells in his ancestors' palace, 

And rules o'er his feudal domain. 
The faces of ancient crusaders 

Frown dark from the fortified wall, 
Where the banners of conquered invaders 

In mouldering tapestries fall. 
The servitors crowding his table 

Tell tales of his chivalrous race, 
The idle steeds, pent in the stable, 

Are scenting the long deferred chase. 
But faith to his early tradition. 

The idyll of boyhood's romance. 
Urged him forth till the world in submission 

Succumbs to the scepter of France. 
And the voice that won Europe with magic 

Hath burst the legitimist's ban. 
Be the drama triumphant or tragic, 

He follows the young Charles le Magne. 



FIRKSIDB5 FANCIKS I9 

Ah that bride ! By his hearth she is waiting, 

Where troubadours chanted of yore, 
And dreams of her hero relating 

His exploits when battles are o'er. 
Dear Angel! A shadow falls o'er her, 

She drops many tears with her beads, 
Yet reads in the fire-light before her 

Her Marshal's magnificent deeds. 
She sees the proud flag of her nation 

Unfurled on the Muscovite's towers. 
Napoleon's august elevation 

To more than imperial powers. 
All Moscow's great gates burst asunder, 

The Tartars subservient kneel. 
The guns from the Kremlin thunder. 

The church bells triumphantly peal, 
And he who is leading the vanguard. 

The first of the foe that invades, 
Bears beneath the imperial standard 

The sword of the ancient crusades. 



^0 FIRESIDE FANCIES 

How sweetly enticing the story ! 

How glorious the life of her lord ! 
Yet the winds in the forest trees hoary 

Forebode a death tempest abroad. 
But she smiles on in exquisite fancies 

And dares no ill omen discern, 
Foreseeing all early romances 

Eclipsed in Napoleon's return. 
The slumbering stag-hound beside her 

Starts, catching the cry of the chase, 
He sees the foam-flecked steed and rider, 

The deer through the wood urged apace, 
And sympathy mutely expressing, 

His head on her silken knee pressed, 
He licks the hand kindly caressing 

The rough hide his lord once caressed. 
While both hear with passionate yearning 

The horns of the hunters draw near. 
The songs of the revellers returning, 

The laughter, the banqueting cheer. 



FIRKSIDE5 FANCIERS 21 

Then the laurel-crowned chief who hath won her 

Shall hang the old sword on the wall, 
And the Star of the Legion of Honor 

Transcends e'en the fire in the hall. 
Aye! The chase of the Cossack unresting, 

The quarry unearthed in the snow. 
And the Star once with honor investing 

Extinct on the brave breast below. 



The scene of my visions fades dimly. 

The flames flare, and blend, as they blaze ; 
And the walls of a prison rise grimly 

Confronting my riveted gaze. 
The judge hath condemned the offender, 

The jailer hath bolted the door. 
That the prisoner shall only surrender 

When youth and ambition are o'er. 
Hesper dawns in the roseate twilight. 

Called forth by the eventide bell, 



52 FIRKSIDK FANCIKS 

But the silvery beams of his high light 

Steal not to the criminal's cell. 
Night visits the hushed earth divinely, 

But not the dark spirit within, 
And he sinks on his pallet supinely 

Alone with his soul and its sin. 
Hark ! The clock tolls the march of the hours, 

He w^earily looks through his bars, 
And beholds o'er those terrible towers 

Heaven's night-watch, the vigiling stars. 
And they watch as they v/atched when he proved 
them 

Guardian guides in his home far away, 
When his innocent infancy loved them 

When kneeling at bedtime to pray. 
And of what is the sweet starlight telling ? 

Of happier days at the farm ? 
Of the humble, hospitable dwelling, 

Replete with such old fashioned charm ? 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 23 

The herds low without in the stable, 

The ice -elves are bridging the rill, 
The tea-kettle sings on the table, 

The wind mocks the voice of the mill. 
With bitter distress he remembers 

The old folks who muse by the fire, 
And see in those glittering embers 

The honors their son shall acquire. 
The son, the life's hope of the father, 

Who drinks to his health in his ale, 
Who his hardly won harvests shall gather, 

The theme of the dame's simple tale. 
Side by side they are cosily sitting 

At rest after long years of strife ; 
Old age, be it never so flitting, 

Is the Sunday of work-laden life. 
There are symbols of honest labor, 

The fruits of continual toil, 
That has raised them o'er every neighbor 

And made them the lords of the soil. 



24 FIRKSIDK FANCIKS 

To v/hat end ? That the sealed realms of knowl- 

Be opened to the boy's fair career, [edge 

That the science and art of the college 

Uplift him to loftier sphere. 
That the wonderful world of the city 

Roll backward its welcoming gate, 
When the votes of the wealthy and witty 

Elect him the chief of his state. 
The city whose far lights alluring 

Shine nightly like fortunate stars. 
They see not its dun clouds obscuring, 

They hear not its discords and jars. 
The paths of their lives have led onward 

Through want unto wealth and fair fame, 
And the bird of their nest shall soar sunward 

Unfettered by shackles of shame. 
And the scene at the hearth seen so often. 

Now viewed through the vista of years, 
Is the only spell that can soften 

The prisoner to penitent tears. 



FIRKSID^ FANCIES 25 

This shame is the answer awarded 

The hopes of their honest desire, 
This crime ends the story recorded 

To-night in his home by the fire. 

The snow gleams again through the night-watch, 

The clock ticks with tenderer tone. 
The winds in fantastical flight catch 

A human refrain not their own. 
The weather-cocks flutter and shiver, 

The coals glow a dull, red mass, 
The sad shadows lengthen and quiver, 

And seemingly live as they pass. 

In a crowded American city. 

Walled in from its tumult and strife, 

lyooms a pile built by human pity 
To shelter the sad hours of life. 

I enter the softly shut portal 
That leads to the hospital ward, 



26 FIRKSID^ FANCIKS 

And pause by the suffering mortal 

That dreams on his pallet hard. 
The priest has accomplished his mission, 

Insuring the spiritual weal, 
The steps of the kindly physician 

Seek others whom science may heal. 
The sister who prays by the pillow 

Starts up at the wanderer's words 
That relate of a life o'er the billow 

That scarce with this last scene accords. 
Kind Sister ! She surely who handles 

The rosary is fittest to fill 
Healing cup and illumine the candles 

That burn o'er the heart that is still. 
She whispers of peace and salvation, 

No shadow, no storm dims the glow 
Of her spirit's sweet sanctification [snow. 

That sheds o'er earth's blackness Heaven's 
The candle leaps bright from the snuffers, 

Attracting the invalid's glance ; 



FIRKSIDK FANCIKS 27 

'Tis a stranger, an alien, who suffers, 

An exile of Ireland, perchance. 
He has fled from his home and his nation, 

Cast forth in political broil, 
To endure a long expiation 

And death on American soil. 
He has won through the various changes 

That fortune inconstant accords 
To one she first loves, then estranges ; 

His goal in the hospital w^ards. 

And to-night those whose rugged devotion 

Was all he once owned upon earth, 
Call him o'er the impassable ocean 

To die in the land of his birth. 
What scene is the watch-light revealing 

Distinct on the background of gloom, 
The heart of the foreigner stealing 

Away from the dim, quiet room ? 
The realms that Aladdin hath lighted ? 

The shamrock, the peer of the rose ? 



28 FIRKSIDK FANCIKS 

The passionate life work requited 

With all that Columbia bestows ? 
No. He sees an invisible hand shape 

The cabin wherein he was born, 
The shrine in the sunlighted landscape, 

The shamrock dew- jewelled at dawn, 
The wood where as truant he watches 

The bird as it builds on the tree, 
The rock where he thrills as he catches 

The sound and the scent of the sea. 
He plays with the boys where they run light 

As the hours they idle away ; 
They have nothing but firelight and sunlight, 

And spirits as sparkling as they. 
He is one of that household how humble, 

He sits by the rude fire of turf. 
While mermaids' songs lure in the rumble 

And roar of the incoming surf. 
Glorious sea ! He hath mused o'er its mysteries 

And dreamed of the west and its gold. 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 29 



As portrayed in the marvelous histories 

By home-coming mariners told. 
Treacherous sea ! Now it stretches forever 

Between him and all he loves best, 
And the eyes of his mother shall never 

Behold his lone grave in the west. 
Where now is the early ambition ? 

The bitter political creed, 
That wrought to no famous fruition, 

Achieved no magnificent deed ? 
The sun of the west hath its shadow, 

The stars of the west oft wane dim. 
The west may be Eldorado 

To others, but hardly to him. 
The hand that hath worked in the old lands 

Works not always for wealth in the new ; 
Thousands wander in vain to the gold lands 

For the treasure unlocked to the few. 
Vain visions ! long dead as his childhood, 

Wing away from his pillow of pain. 



30 I^IRKSIDK FANCIES 



Old lullabies woo from the wildwood, 

The sea rocks his slumber again, 
And to-night the heart's last aspiration 

The senses fast failing desire, 
Returns to its ever loved nation, 

Asks death at its comfortless fire. 
In the candle a winding-sheet slowly 

Obscures the light blue and dim. 
Yet it still shows in radiance holy 

A scene unperceived save by him. 
And afar o'er the ocean it glimmers, 

And guides to the shore of his birth, 
Till he wakes in the sunlight that shimmers 

More brightly than elsewhere on earth. 
1,0 ! The exile returns to his nation. 

The wanderer is welcomed once more. 
And the peat fire in glad salutation 

Flames to heaven as he enters the door. 
See ! He gives to his work-weary mother 
The wage of his work-worn hand. 



FIRESIDE FANCIES ^i 

He aids his poor, ignorant brother 

To rise in his self -governed land. 
He offers the sister now mated 

The dowry his savings afford ; 
K'en he gives to his landlord, once hated, 

A juster, nay, kindlier word. 
The sister starts up from her watching. 

She reads not the radiant smile 
That those pallid features are catching 

From dreams of the dear old isle. 
He hath won life's goal at those hearthsides. 

Eternal reunion hath come. 
And the emigrant's spirit from earth glides 

With the last benedictions of home. 
Extinguish the candle forever, 

Kind Sister ! Thy vigil is o'er. 
Close his eyes ; ours in vain would endeavor 

To gaze on the angels' far shore. 
Fairer far than the west's Eldorado, 

More blessed than Ireland the blest, 



32 FIRESIDE EANCIES 

Where no sun and no star sets in shadow, 
Heaven welcomes the wanderer to rest. 



The cuckoo scarce chirps in the shadow, 

The storm on the hill holds aloof, 
Solemn silence descends on the meadow, 

The last rain drops fall on the roof. 
lyO ! A forest in India enchanted. 

Where idols invincible reign. 
Whose aisles by their votaries haunted 

No foreigner's footsteps profane. 
Where in temples illumined by moonlight 

The tiger and serpent seek lair, 
Where the Hindoo still kneels in the June night 

To his god in idolatrous prayer. 
There, blessing the wanderer's vision. 

Enshrined in the depth of the wood. 
Shines the Cross of the Anglican mission, 

Baptized in its brave builders' blood. 



I^IRKSIDK FANCIES 33 

A queen in this eastern dominion, 

The moon on the moss beams so bright 
She might waken the sleeping Endymion 

To Uve in her love-light to-night. 
Alone 'mid this mystical nation, 

With ruinous altar and god. 
Far away from men's civilization, 

The priest walks the odorous sod. 
The face has the soldierly beauty 

Of sires who at Agincourt bled. 
Who died in illustrious duty 

Where Nelson and Wellington led. 
But far from the land of his fathers 

He combats for cause more sublime, 
And, conquering, to Christ's standard gathers 

The hosts won from misery and crime. 
Yon moon trembles pale on the yew tops 

And glints through the crystalline prism 
Of numberless sparkling dewdrops 

Besprinkling the leaves with night's chrism. 

tare 



34 FIRESIDE FANCIES 

And nature is pensive and holy 

As when the first cloud kissed the world, 
And the first stars like seraphims slowly 

The curtains of heaven round her furled. 
Hath The Presence who Eden once hallowed, 

When man ruled the garden divine, 
Through the sanctified forest fane followed 

The saint to the solitude's shrine? 
Does the voice speak that spake unto Moses, 

Responding to yearnings within. 
While some seraph in silence discloses 

A woild pure of sorrow and sin? 
Does he read in the Calvary the glory ? 

Through veil more transparent behold 
The end of humanity's story. 

The realms that God's angels unfold? 
Man passes : his works live around us, 

And we are the men that we are 
Because such apostles have found us, 

O'er waters and wilderness far. 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 35 

He looks to the full moon dispelling 

All clouds from her empire of light ; 
What tale is she tenderly telling ? 

She shines on old England to-night, 
And she tells of the years at the college, 

Of comrades in bold boyhood's sports. 
Of patient acquirement of knowledge. 

Of dreams in the cloisters and courts. 
The prize nobly fought for, investing 

The hero with happiest bays. 
The bird-chase, the boat-race, the jesting. 

Come back from the dim, vanished days, 
Then at twilight the circle uniting 

Around the great fire in the hall, 
Romances and legends reciting 

Regardless of winter's wild squall. 
When the tale of the saint and the martyr, 

Enthused o'er the warrior's renown, 
In reverie e'er bidding him barter 

The world for a fiery crown. 



36 FIRBSIDK FANCIES 

Cold that hearth, but its last ember flashes 

God's glory in far, foreign skies, 
Slain the saint, but aloft from his ashes 

The phoenix of faith heavenward flies. 
Does he sigh for the old English hearth-sides ? 

O'er old pleasures long perished repine ? 
Nay, that light to the lost of the earth guides 

And kindles in India a shrine. 
The hearth is resigned for the altar, 

The Christian for infidel friends, 
The legend for ritual and psalter ; 

The end, the ideal transcends, 
And the spark of that faith shall burn brighter 

Than Hindostan's costliest gem. 
Till its last rays in Paradise glitter 

The star of the saint's diadem. 
Hark ! the planets like spirits supernal 

Unite in their mystical chant. 
Through the trees whispering anthems eternal, 

The full moon shines softly aslant. 



I^IRESIDE FANCIKS 37 

1^0 ! Her beams by the broad branches riven 

Intersect at his feet on the moss, 
And as traced by a finger from heaven 

Transform to a luminous cross. 
The Cross ! E'er that cross shining o'er him 

How oft ' tis a fiery rod ! 
But it bears Christ through deserts before him 

Where man walks like Enoch with God. 

A shadow, a mist, interveneth 

Betwixt me and yonder wide dome, 
And over the sparkling zenith 

The clouds white-winged chariots come. 
Did we vigil as he does, forever, 

God's answer would shine in yon height, 
And a visible miracle sever 

The veil o'er our spiritual sight. 

The wind tears the great trees asunder 
And startles the listener's ear 



38 FIRKSIDK FANCIES 

With the crash of artillery thunder, 

The trumpet, the cavalry's cheer, 
The flames in the great grate ascending 

Rush outward with ominous roar, 
Revealing in battle contending 

The hosts of our fierce civil war. 
On Gettysburg's iron-bound breastwork 

The legions encountering join, 
The blue by the guns on the crest lurk. 

The grey rank on rank charge the line. 
They will mount yonder hill, aye, yon heaven, 

They v/ill silence the cannon in death ; 
While the old oaks like aspen are riven, 

And shower on the fallen funeral wreath ; 
Win Pickett ! Win Armistead ! Mars speed ye, 

All Maryland follows your star, 
May our rebel redeemer's soul lead ye ! 

May Washington watch o'er your war. 
For a nobler is fronting the foemen, 

God's hero, who on the last day 



FIRKSIDK I^ANCIKS 39 

Will reveal when the last trump shall summon 

No stain on his mantle of gray. 
There are many as mighty in conquest, 

But where one so grand in defeat ? 
The world as it stands at his inquest 

Proclaims him as godly, as great. 
The Mars of the battle's mad onset, 

The martyr of national loss, 
The saint of the hearth when life's sunset 

Emblazons his shield with the cross. 
lyO ! Napoleon's majestic memorial ! 

Grant slumbers in temple sublime, 
But our hearts are Lee's living Kscorial — 

lyOve hallowed, eternal as time. 



Charge ! Into the fire of the furnace, 
Charge ! Into the hearts of the foe. 

Charge ! Over the cannon that menace 
And into the red sea below ! 



40 FIRESIDK FANCIES 

Not more bravely Wolf combatted nature 

In darkness on Mount Abraham 
That, Goliath-like, lifted its stature 

Between him and gallant Montcalm. 
Strike ! swift as the lightning that slayeth, 

Rush ! resistless as Ktna's dark floods, 
The last age, the first age portrayeth 

The titans again war with gods. 



Rescue Longstreet with squadrons fast fleeing, 

What son of the South lags behind ? 
Our furled flag is shrouding our dying. 

Ride up, like the storm on the wind. 
Shamest thou Phoebus ? With lurid clouds cover 

The fratricide witnessed to-day, 
For the brother deals death to the brother, 

One blood stains the blue and the gray. 
Rank on rank up the mountain of fire. 

Ha! There's error? or treachery? God knows. 



FIRESIDE FANCIES 41 

They have won ! — aye, a funeral pyre, 
The laud and the tears — e'en of foes. 



At the base of that hillock of horror, 

Apart from the holocaust cast. 
Drenched red in the ocean of sorrow. 

Two brothers encounter at last. 
Each hath fought in the front of the battle. 

Each presses a pardoning hand, 
And speaks 'mid the cannon's rude rattle 

But not of the fate of his land. 
Each life hath been given to its nation. 

Each heart sheds an unstinted stream, 
But the throb of its present pulsation 

Responds to a fond long-lost theme. 
'Mid the combat's hot hailstorm and riot. 

They look on each other and know 
The features once loved by the quiet 

Old nursery hearth long ago. 



42 FIRKSIDB FANCIES 

And of what is the cannon's flame telling? 

Nay, it fades in the nursery fire, 
And points to the family group filling 

The house of their now ruined sire. 
They see the old Maryland manor 

By foemen despoiled and defaced. 
The walls bear the enemy's banner. 

The steeds from the stables are chased. 
The slaves, liberated, are scattered ; 

Yet true through the treachery of war 
Those remain whom affection hath fettered 

More firmly than irons or law. 
The birds long ago in the dearth died. 

The gardens and courts are o'ergrown. 
The fire is extinct on that hearth side 

Whence plenty and pleasure have flown. 
The children still wistfully gather 

Around its dead ashes now cold 
Where the eyes of the early aged father 

Seek others who played there of old. 



FIRKSIDK FANCIKS 43 

And unchanged at that hearth kneels the sister, 

A lovely, a delicate girl, 
As fair as if fairies had kissed her, 

And formed her to wed with an earl. 
She is trying to kindle those ashes. 

She cheers the sad sire at her side. 
While the cannon destructively crashes 

And ruin surrounds and shall bide. 
The tasks by the brothers deserted, 

The duties the old man lays down, 
The care of the children faint hearted, 

She bravely assumes as her own. 
Oh, what if her life's morning splendor 

Fade quenched in a tempest of tears ! 
Oh, what if youth's paradise tender 

Is wrecked as war's hurricane sears ! 
Not of self doth she dream, but of others 

In rival battalions to-day. 
And she prays at that hearth for both brothers, 

She loves both the blue and the gray. 



44 ]^ire:sidk fancies 

She will smile though the war hath bereft her 

Of all that ouce gladdened her youth 
If at last amid loss fate hath left her 

One son of the north and the south. 
She will kindle the cinder's dim lustre 

Until the chill nursery glow warm 
If from thousands of soldiers that muster 

Two lives are redeemed in the storm. 
Gracious God ! When the battle is over 

Accord her that welcoming day 
When one fire cheers each war-w^ounded brother, 

One flag blends the blue and the gray ! 
Day dies upon Gettysburg's breastworks, 

The dead sleep where I^ee's army stood, 
The angel of death on the crest lurks, 

His sword steeped in Maryland's blood. 
Are ye stainless who quickened the quarrel ? 

Yet Thou Glory descend from yon skies 
With thy wreath twined of cypress and laurel. 

And crown thy young son as he dies. 



FIRKSIDE FANCIES 45 

lyO the brothers ! The surgeon bends o'er them, 

The hands that uplift them grow soft ; 
In the scene of the slaughter before them 

'Tis tragedy witnessed too oft. 
Gloria Victis ! Our flag furls forever. 

lyight the peace-pipe ; we've finished our fray, 
And God grant that no quarrel e'er sever 

Hereafter the blue and the gray. 

I start, for a bell floateth faintly, 
And far o'er the fields through the night 

I^ike the voice of some seraphim saintly 
That sings in aerial flight. 

Reflections from Biblical history 

In the flame as it fades are unfurled, 

Till the Star of the Chaldean mystery 
Ivcads on to the lyight of the world. 

Mankind waits in rapt expectation, 

The gods Greece and Rome loved expire ; 



46 FIRKSIDK I^ANCISS 

" Oh, a God? " is all hearts' supplication, 

A visible Christ, a Messiah. 
And we wander unwearied, we magi, 

And faithfully heaven's realms explore 
For the sign that shall shov/ to our sage eye 

The king whom all earth shall adore. 
For the searchings of reverent reliance 

The quest of the confident priest, 
lyO ! the answer concealed in the science, 

The mystical Star in the East ! 
And is there no fire by the manger ? 

No cheer in the comfortless stall 
To welcome the kingliest stranger 

Who has visited earth since man's fall ? 
Aye, the fires of all heaven are sparkling, 

The cloud-gates to angels unbar, 
And the sky above Bethlehem darkliug 

Like a great jewel flashes afar. 
The sweet morning stars sing together. 

The armies of angels in choir 



FIRKSIDK FANCIES 47 

With anthems re-echoing forever 

Proclaim the Incarnate Messiah ! 
Age on age, yet the gleam of that glory 

Still kindles the Christmas-tide hearth, 
The angels still tell us their story 

Beside our rude altars on earth. 
The fire ! 'Tis a sanctified essence. 

The hearth ! 'Tis a hallowed place, trod 
By a holy, invisible Presence 

That speaks to mankind of its God. 



Hark ! The bells peal above me and banish 

The dreams that enchanted the night. 
The images mock me and vanish 

Transparently wan in the light. 
The sparks twinkle out in the ember, 

Morn's red ray illumines the room. 
And waking, I strive to remember 

The visions that haunted the gloom. 



48 FIRESIDE FANCIES 

The cuckoo chirps chiding and cheery, 

No shadows, no phantoms remain, 
The birds twitter noisy and merry, 

And tap for their crumbs on the pane. 
The Christmas sun dazzles and dances 

On earth's veil of crystalline snow, 
'Tis a scene from the fairy romances 

I loved as a child long ago. 
Bell on bell, chime on chime without number. 

Which world is the real ? the true ? 
The firelighted pictures of slumber ? 

The sunlighted scene 'neath the blue? 
I turn to the ashes concealing 

The history of home and of heart, 
I seek for the wizard, appealing 

For secrets of magical art. 
* ' Fairy mirror reflecting the faces 

That smiled on our infancy's years. 
No time and no change e'er replaces 

Your images, haloed in tears. 



PIRKSIDK FANCIKS 49 

Depart not, thou spirit of mystery, 

Pause, lend me thy marvellous key, 
Unlock my own life's hidden history, 

Speak, what shall my fireside be ? " 
The flame in its last evanescence 

I^eaps aloft and discloses the sprite 
Transformed to a radiant presence, 

*Tis the fireside angel of light. 
The priest of the human heart's temple 

Invisibly hallowing the hearth, 
Who dwells with the lordly and simple 

Where'er love rears altars on earth. 
Sad indeed were his lot whom such geni 

Ne'er visit nor watch on life's way, 
Who sees not some home saint's serene eye 

Shine steadfast through fate's darkest day ! 

* ' Thou hast shown me the realms thou hast 
haunted. 

Paint mine with miraculous hand ; 
Shall the scene by my fire be enchanted 

With visions from lost fairyland ? 



50 FIRKSIDE FANCIES 

Flits the dream from my passionate pleading, 

While brightly the broadening day 
Floods the hall as the angel receding 

Fades into the ash cold and gray. 
But his words as from heavenly lyre bide 

With the bells on the clear Christmas air, 
*' Paradise bequeathed mankind the fireside, 

God is love : He shall dwell with thee there." 

RlDDEl^Iy. 



MAY 



LIBRARY OF CONGR^^^^^^ 

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